Processing aids

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has an integrated, worldwide electronic information management system called the Global Case Management System (GCMS). Officers use it to process applications for

• citizenship
• immigration (temporary and permanent residents, including refugees)
• certain passport services

To process immigration applications, officers must review client and application information within multiple screens in GCMS. The time it takes to load different screens can delay processing, especially in offices with limited Internet bandwidth.

Through the Digital Platform Modernization (DPM) initiative, IRCC will undergo a multi-year business transformation that will fundamentally change the way IRCC works and delivers services to clients and Canadians. This includes developing a new, modernized digital platform that will replace GCMS.

To help make processing simpler and more efficient for officers today, we use technology that works with GCMS to give officers all the information they need in one place. This technology doesn’t use advanced analytics or any artificial intelligence.

Chinook

In 2018, we started using a standalone, Microsoft Excel–based tool called Chinook to help officers review key information more easily as they process temporary residence applications. It displays case-specific client and application information from GCMS in a more user-friendly way. The tool

• doesn’t replace GCMS, but functions together with that system
• streamlines the steps officers would take if they processed applications directly in GCMS

What it does

Chinook supports officers in processing certain applications by

• displaying information from GCMS
• presenting it so it’s easier for the officer to see client information from GCMS on one screen

The tool can help assign officers a workload of applications. Officers can then view client information from assigned applications in a single window, instead of flipping between multiple screens, as they would have to do in GCMS.

After they review an application in the tool, officers can prepare their decision, and their rationale if they refuse the application. The decision and refusal reasons are imported from the tool into GCMS, where they are kept.

Chinook helps us process faster. It has proven to increase application processing volumes by up to 35%, depending on the migration office, as compared to GCMS alone.

What it doesn’t do

Chinook doesn’t

• make decisions
• recommend any decisions to officers

It simply presents information in a more simplified, streamlined way to officers processing applications.

Chinook does display annotations, or notes, which come from reviews of application information in GCMS by advanced analytics or other automated tools. This could include information such as whether the application is for a minor, or whether we have other open applications for this client. Chinook doesn’t use advanced analytics or artificial intelligence.

Developing the technology

Chinook was developed at IRCC by our employees who are subject matter experts in either immigration processing or computer sciences. It was developed with the use of the Microsoft Office products we already use (mainly Excel).

We deployed the first version of Chinook in March 2018. Since then, we’ve made multiple updates, and we continue to update and further develop it.  We are testing a new cloud-based version of Chinook that performs the same functions as the Excel-based tool, while enhancing the privacy and security of applicant information.

We are expanding our processing aids to help officers process more permanent and temporary residence applications.

Additional processing aids

On a smaller scale, our offices in Canada and abroad use a variety of applications to make tasks easier. They help with

• optimizing workload distribution and management
• offering a more user-friendly view of client information to speed-up processing
• compiling documents for review
• standardizing the generation of notes
• personalizing and sending outgoing correspondence
• streamlining administrative processes to help with finalizing files (for example, document printing)